The present invention relates generally to the field of techniques and systems for deploying underwater equipment. More specifically, the present invention relates to the techniques and apparatus for deploying and implanting on the ocean floor a subsurface buoyed vertical acoustic sensor array.
Previous methods of deploying underwater vertical acoustic sensor arrays have required either expensive mooring of a work platform to keep the array stable while gently lowering the array into the water or, towing or free-falling of the array from a moving platform with the resultant shock and potential damage to the array. A previously utilized deployment technique required two ships or platforms with their crews working in tandem to deploy the array and to moor it on the ocean floor. This previous technique required the mooring of two ocean anchors and connecting these anchors together with a yoke to which the underwater acoustic array was connected. This previous technique was inherently ineffective due to the fact that it required synchronized movement between the two launch vessels, one being equipped with two cranes for deploying the anchors and the other being equipped for deploying the array. It was also inherently inefficient in that it required the utilization of a separate crew for each launch vessel. Further, these prior techniques and apparatus often resulted in the lowering or towing cables becoming entangled with the array.